Celebration
by Kat8790
Summary: This is what I liked to think happens after the big day of finding the City of Gold.  lame title but it's all I could think of at the moment.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author side note: I am actually a little disappointed today. I had received my NT2 DVD in the mail and when I watched the deleted scenes they weren't what I expected. The extra little scene with Patrick and Emily being cute of how it used to be like when they were in bed was too short and I thought a couple of scenes I heard would be on the DVD were missing. Is that all the deleted scenes we get? We don't even get the one where Patrick was stabbed? I also remember during the commentary about another kissing scene Patrick and Emily were in but maybe I just love them too much to realize it was probably just a joke. Still love the movie of course! **_

_**A/N: My second one-shot and my take on what happened after they had found the City of Gold. Of course, being that it is fanfiction and completely different story then my other one I probably won't keep the past experiences of Emily and Patrick the same as I had said in "Our First Couch", I like to change my stories a bit and Emily might be a bit different in this one too but a good different, to me it's good, lol. I hope you still read it and I hope you enjoy!**_

**Chapter 1**

It had been a very long and tiring day after they had found the City of Gold, a happy one of course but they all could use a bit of relaxation after a day like today. They would have another big day tomorrow, they were already having requests coming in for interviews, people wanted to have just a small conversation or picture with them and the only person really enjoying it was Riley but that night, after everything whined down, they needed to relax.

"What a day." Emily commented leaning against one of the wooden posts.

"Long day." Patrick added as he leaned against the post as well beside Emily.

Riley nodded and then replied, "I could use a drink."

Ben shook his head and wrapped a tighter arm around Abigail as she shivered just a bit in the late cool night air. "I don't think that would be a great idea. It's kind of late."

"Aw, Ben…" Riley complained. "It will be sort of a celebration, for what we found today."

Ben still shook his head. "I don't know…"

"Actually…" Emily spoke up. "That sounds great. I could really use one after today."

Riley grinned and turned to Ben. "See, your mother's game. Come on, don't be a party pooper. After a day like we have had I think we should all have one…or two, maybe three."

Ben sighed and gestured ahead of him. "Lead the way."

They all followed Riley to a small pub across the street from their hotel that, thankfully, didn't have very many people in it and the people in there didn't even look up when they entered the bar. They made their way to a round booth in the back, stuffing Emily and Patrick in the middle, Riley on the end next to Emily, Abigail next to Patrick and Ben on the other end.

"So…" Riley said motioning for the bartender. "What's it going to be?"

Patrick couldn't stop himself. "Tequila?" he said nudging Emily a little bit.

She saw the smirk and the twinkle in his eye and knew he was teasing but she glared anyway. "You know how I get after that stuff."

Patrick nodded and again, he just couldn't stop himself, "Tequila it is then."

"So tequila?" the bartender asked politely.

"No." Emily said immediately. "I will just have a scotch if you got it please."

The bartender nodded. Patrick had the same as Emily, Ben and Riley ordered beer, and Abigail would have ordered wine but she figured with this place she would be out of luck on that, so she went with Riley and Ben ordering a light beer.

"So Dr. Appleton…" Riley said after he sipped his warm beer but extremely satisfying as it slid down his throat. "Ben has told me nothing about you, in fact, the way Mr. Gates talked about you the last time we were on one of these adventures made me think you were dead."

Emily turned to Patrick with a raised eyebrow. "Really?" Patrick turned quickly away and took a sip of his drink.

"Tell me about yourself? I know you teach, what's that like?"

Emily sighed and moved her drink around a bit before answering, "It would be a lot better if there weren't any students." They all laughed, including Emily, and she continued, "You would think college students would be more serious about their education…some are…but most, they just don't care or they always expect me to bend my rules when I strictly tell them at the beginning of the semester I do not accept late work and I don't offer extra credit, if you don't want to do the work you shouldn't have taken the class. I am not there to be their mother and hold their hand the whole way, if they wanted a mother they should have stayed home. That's what I tell them at the very first class and I don't repeat myself. They should know better but they don't. Every year it's the same thing. I always get some students to come to me begging for extra time, complaining they had practice or they had a big work load. One girl told me her grandmother died and I sympathized with her and bent the rules once…then I hear her bragging about how she had fooled me so I wouldn't accept her assignment, shows you what I get for being nice."

Riley just sat there with his mouth open a little. "Wow…" he finally said. "No offence but I am glad I didn't have you as my professor." Emily wasn't offended. She just smiled. "I don't mean it as anything rude…" he continued. "I just wouldn't have made it…barely made it from the classes I did take."

"It's fine." Emily said taking a sip of scotch and feeling the warm smoothing liquid down her dry throat. "I understand things are different. It wasn't like that in my day. When I went to college I certainly didn't make excuses." This statement intrigued Riley to ask more questions.

"So you two met on a treasure hunt?" He looked to both at Patrick and Emily who looked at him in surprise. Riley blushed. "I could sort of hear you guys arguing while I waited outside; sort of glad I didn't come in."

Emily laughed. "That's how we always are. You should have just come in."

"I think I was safer outside." Riley commented with a smile. "So tell me about the treasure hunt."

"Well…" Emily said shifting a bit so she was facing Riley more and consciously moving herself into Patrick's arm more that sat on top of the booth behind her, "It was a treasure hunt…sort of but it was more educational purposes really. I was trying to just get course credit, don't believe anything this oaf tells you." She said pointing to the man who was rolling his eyes behind her. "I believe the school still does it, takes a few students on a hunting trip to get the feel of things first hand."

"Where did the excitement, adrenaline, and tequila come in?" Riley was anxious to know after spending time with these two. They were an interesting couple and he could only imagine the stories they had to tell.

Emily couldn't help but blush. It was Patrick's turn to butt in. "That came in about a week after we met."

This caught Ben by surprise. "A week?" he questioned his dad. Ben's questioning left both Emily and Patrick speechless. They hadn't realized they never really explained this to Ben…of course in 32 years they never talked to one another let alone talk about one another.

"Ben doesn't know…" Riley said with a smile. "I love it. This calls for more beer!" He motioned to the bartender again. "Can we get more beer over here please?" The bartender nodded.

"Tequila next for you?" Riley teased.

Emily glared but it didn't faze Riley who had already finished his beer. "The last time I had tequila was in May 1963."

"You afraid of it?"

Patrick spoke up. "Tequila tends to loosen her tongue a bit."

Riley nodded. "Oh…she talks a lot."

"Okay…sure…we'll go with that." Patrick said with a smirk.

Ben cringed. He didn't need to know that about his mother. "Can we change the subject…let's talk about today."

Riley waved him off. "We talked enough about the City of Gold. We talked until our ears bled. Now is the time to take a break and learn more about Mr. and Mrs. Gates." Emily couldn't help but smile at the thought of being called Mrs. Gates. She hadn't been called that in years. It sounded nice to her. "So…you fell in love over a shot of tequila and then got married?"

Emily could feel her tongue loosen a little more as she took the rest of Patrick's drink. He motioned to bartender for more as Emily told the story. "No, more like a bottle of tequila and I didn't know I fell in love with him until a month later when I found out I was pregnant with Ben."

Ben spit his drink out all over the table. "What?" Why was he just hearing about this? He knew his parents had gotten married soon after they met, he even knew about the tequila they drank when they met but he just assumed they got married because they fell in love quickly not because they had to get married.

Abigail laughed. "So that's why Patrick asked me if I was pregnant when I first met him. He was wondering if the apple didn't fall far from the tree."

"Ben's a love-child." Riley grinned.

He glared at Riley and he wished his mother would stop but she didn't. Emily didn't go into extreme details of course but she described their trip. She remembered every last bit of it because it involved Patrick. Almost any memory involving him she remembered. But she told Riley, and the others but mostly Riley since he seemed to be the most interested, about how they met on the bus to their destination. She talked about how they were paired as partners for one simple project of digging and preserving and how they argued most of the time. Arguing was their thing she guessed, it certainly always ended with them in bed, of course she left that part out but he sort of guessed it anyway.

"So wait…" He said setting down his fourth beer. "The way you are describing it, sounds like arguing is a weird way of you two flirting."

Emily set down the second glass of scotch she had been nursing and shrugged. "I guess you could look at it that way."

Riley shook his head. "Weirdos."

"Hey!" Emily said. "I've been nice to you this whole time. Don't make me turn on you."

Riley was just about to reply when the bartender came up to them. "I am sorry folks but we are closing."

Emily looked at her watch and her eyes widened. "Oh, it's 2am. We should go."

They all nodded and left the money for the drinks on the table as they walked out of the pub and toward their hotel. "I like your Mom." Riley slurred a little bit. He was never one to be able to hold his alcohol. In fact Abigail, Ben, and Patrick seemed to be the only sober ones as Patrick seemed to be holding on to Emily as well.

Ben smiled. "I think you're a little young to be my new dad."

Emily laughed and Riley blushed as he replied, "That's not what I meant. She's cool, not how I imagined after seeing that girl running out damning her to hell."

"That would be the girl that told me her grandmother died." Emily spoke up. "Kara Stone. She tried giving me her paper that day. I told her no after what I heard."

"And all she said mother was that she hated you as she was coming out."

Emily shrugged. "Not the first time someone has said that behind my back. I have heard worse…cold, mean, unfair…That British Bitch is my favorite." She said with a grin.

Patrick frowned. "You let your students talk to you like that?"

She chuckled. "They don't have the courage to say it to my face and I don't let it bother me, most who say that are just angry of my teaching methods. Anyway I'm exhausted…I'm ready to sleep."

"Me too." All of them murmured and yawning in the process.

They all said goodnight to one another and Patrick assured his son he would make sure that Emily would get to her room just fine and Patrick knew that's all he had planned to do, little did he know that Emily had something else planned.

"Are you going to come in?" Emily asked bluntly as she held the door open for him. She walked away as she took off her jacket and threw it across the chair that sat in the corner, she suddenly felt very warm.

Patrick was taken aback. He really was going to just walk her to her room and then head to his. "Emily…"

"Shut the door please." She said as she shed her blouse, leaving the lighter thin strapped silk undershirt on. Patrick was at a loss for words. He shut the door immediately and that is when Emily smiled as she approached him. He knew he shouldn't have let her drink at all. Alcohol tended to have a certain effect on Emily and Patrick wasn't ever able…no matter how hard he tried…to resist her, the proof of that was Ben.

Patrick hadn't even noticed that Emily was extremely close to him until he heard the click of the lock on the door behind him. "Em…I think you should go to bed."

Emily smirked. "All right, as long as you tuck me in."

"Em, I'm serious…"

"Me too." She said placing her hands on his chest and pulled at the zipper of his jacket.

He grabbed her hands and removed them but didn't let go for fear and secret desire of what she would do with them next. "You had too much to drink."

"I had two drinks!" she said laughing.

"Yes and look how you're acting. I know what alcohol does to you, remember 1963?"

Emily smiled and joked, "If you are worried we will end up with another Ben, don't, that can't happen…trust me."

Patrick enclosed his hands with hers and held them close. "I just don't want you to regret this in the morning Emily. I know we didn't formally discuss what happened earlier and…"

"Patrick…" Emily said with a sigh. "I know what happened earlier. I kissed you." She gave him the biggest smile, the smile that made him fall for her over forty years ago. "I kissed you because I wanted to. I wasn't drunk then and I am not drunk now. I had two drinks. I just know that I miss you." Her voice suddenly got a little softer and she looked down to the floor. Patrick knew he she didn't like to seem vulnerable. "I miss spending time with you and being with you." She looked back into his eyes. "I miss us Patrick and whatever happens tonight is not the last of it. I will make sure of that." She said with a small smile.

Emily leaned up as best she could but given she was 5'4 and he was 6'1 it was kind of tough. "Patrick you're going to have to meet me half way here." She said with a smile.

He knew it was inevitable so he leaned down and kissed her with all the passion he had. Emily groaned against his lips and held him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him back toward the bed.

_**A/N: I hope I ended it okay. I was going to try for a love scene but I wanted to get this up before I went to sleep. I will try and go for a second chapter, for maybe a morning love scene and what will happen the next day sort of thing. Do you all like that idea? Well I hope you liked it so far! Thanks for reading.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Here is chapter number 2! I hope you like it. I had wanted to get this up yesterday but it didn't happen. I am actually thinking of possibly having more chapters for this story if I can come up with a good idea. It probably won't have any treasure hunting because I am not very good at those types of stories but I would try. I am not definitely saying there will be more chapters but it's possible. Enjoy!**_

_**A/N2: Also this chapter is more mature than the others so if you can't handle it then I suggest to skip the first few paragraphs to the end or just don't read it. I am not great at love scenes so I hope this one is all right for those who do read it! Oh! Another question…if any of you Helen Mirren fans think it might be a good idea for me to request Prime Suspect as a new sub-category for then let me know!**_

**Chapter 2**

Emily had never slept so well in the 32 years she has been away from Patrick. Through the years she would always go to bed late grading papers or just getting things ready for classes the next day…any excuse not to go upstairs to that lonely cold bed. She had missed Patrick by her side and as she awoke with the feeling of his body pressed to hers; she knew it was right.

Emily was snug deep against Patrick's side as she used the crook of his arm as a pillow and her arm resting comfortably on his chest. Last night couldn't have been better and she was happy she was sober for their getting together again. She groaned a little as her senses slowly began to be even more alert. She didn't want to awake just yet. She was so comfortable here in his arms.

Her eyes fluttered opened and she moved her head up to see Patrick's handsome face close to hers. He was still asleep. She leaned up and kissed his lips lightly and that small kiss caused an electrifying current to go through her like it always did before. It was amazing a simple kiss like that could cause her to feel such things. She wished she hadn't of wasted 32 years by leaving him or even if she had talked to him just once during that time she might have gotten her second chance earlier but she certainly couldn't dwell on the past. They were together now, that's all that mattered and she wasn't going to waste anymore time.

She leaned up again and this time lingered a little longer on his lips, massaging them with her own, waking him up the best way she knew how. She didn't stop until she felt him respond and she broke away to see a pair of tired but sparkling blue eyes staring at her. Nothing was needed to be said as a now very awake Patrick leaned down and kissed her back full on the lips.

Emily fell back against the bed as Patrick shifted to the top and pushed her back. She didn't even seem fazed by his forcefulness. She accepted and welcomed it. She wrapped one leg around his waist, bringing him close. She grasped his shoulders tightly and digging her nails in as his tongue moved with hers, causing explosions inside her body.

She arched her back when he moved his lips to her neck, sucking at the pulse points, causing small but deep groans and moans throughout the room. Her hands were everywhere they could reach…his back, his hair, shoulders, arms, chest…anyway she could grasp and just let him know how much she loved his lips, his very talented lips.

Shock waves of pleasure coursed through her as Patrick moved his way down to her chest, pinching and loving all over them. Her arousal was growing as he dug his hands into her hips and thighs. Her hands gripped his hair as she felt another wave of pleasure hit her lower body. She knew she couldn't last this long if he kept this up. She moved her other leg around his waist and pressed herself forward toward him. "Patrick…" she said breathlessly. He nodded knowing exactly what she wanted. He moved forward and quickly thrust into her causing her breath to hitch and her body to tighten.

After a few seconds she let out a gasping breath she didn't even know she was holding. As Patrick began to move Emily tried to move with him. He was quite teasingly slow with his movements but he held her still by her waist…it was driving her insane. Her hands moved to the sheets and she gripped them so tightly she swore they were going to tear. The slow movements were something she liked but felt tortured by them all the time. The only thing she could move was her legs and she wrapped them tightly around his waist, pressing her feet into him to try to create some friction between them.

Patrick finally decided to comply with what she needed and moved faster. Emily hissed through her teeth and her eyes rolled in the back of her head as the pleasure that was already building began to grow faster. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach and she knew she could let go at any moment if Patrick did the one thing that would send her over the edge but he didn't and she knew why.

He loved to see her like this, almost desperate, vulnerable. She hated it and loved it at the same time when he did this. It drove her to the point of craziness but that is just what made him so good. Emily moaned as his lips found his way to her neck and up to her ear. She shivered when she felt his hot breath upon her ear to whisper to her she needed to let go.

He moved his lips down to her favorite spot behind her eat and thrusts deeper finding that other sweet spot of hers, causing her body to convulse and her voice to cry out in pure pleasure. Emily moved her lips to his shoulder and bit down to hide the screams that were trying to break free. It didn't take Patrick long to follow his ex wife. He pulled her face away from his shoulder and kissed her hard as his thrusts seemed to go at a speed that neither of them knew they had the energy for anymore.

The only thing heard after about a minute were their breaths trying to regain composure and come down from their high. Emily held onto Patrick, never wanting to let go. "I love you Patrick." She whispered breathlessly into his ear.

Patrick grinned and ran a gentle hand down her face. "I love you too Em."


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Here is another! I am trying to not leave the chapters with a cliff-hanger so if I get stuck or I just don't want to continue it will be sort of finished. I hope that is all right with everyone and just so you know Prime Suspect is now added to the TV section! I am trying to write my first story, I hope others will too and I also hope you Prime Suspect fans enjoy it but for now hope you enjoy this one!**_

**Chapter 3**

They weren't awoken until later that afternoon when they heard a persistent banging on the door and then someone slipping a key into the door. Emily's eyes shot wide open and both she and Patrick shot up in bed when they heard the door being open. "Damnit…" Emily hissed. "Ben has a key."

"Why?" Patrick whispered back.

"I always gave Ben an extra key for just in case reasons. I forgot."

"Mom?" Ben asked in a rush into the room. "I can't find…" Ben stopped short when he saw his mother sitting up in bed, early without clothes as she clutched the sheet to cover herself and his father right next to her, also clearly without clothes. "What the…what…why…how…whe…I…oh no…" Ben groaned and before he could say anything more Abigail and Riley decided to join.

"Did you find your…oh." Abigail stopped short when she entered the room and Riley's eyes just widened. He didn't need to see this. They may not be his parents but it certainly felt like he was catching his parents in bed. He could only imagine how Ben must feel.

Emily couldn't help but blush a violent red and she wished she could just disappear under the sheets and never come out again. She would rather have the maid catch them in this compromising position rather than her son, his girlfriend, and his best friend. Anybody would be better than them.

Ben's feeling of embarrassment catching them in bed was soon put away by the anger that was building. Why would they do something like this when he knew it the end it wouldn't work? A one-night stand was unacceptable. He turned to the both of them, his face red. "I want to talk to you both. I will be back in half an hour…no fifteen…no five minutes. Five minutes is enough for you to be presentable and then I want to speak with you both." He stormed out. Abigail and Riley followed, not wanting to stay with the tension filled room and of course the naked divorce couple in bed.

Emily let out a breath when the door closed behind Riley. "This is just great." She said angrily throwing back the covers and gathering her clothes. "Now I get to hear a lecture from my own son."

Patrick who had followed her and started to dress as well replied, "He can't give us a lecture. He may be in his forties but we can still ground him."

Emily laughed as she slipped her blouse over her head. "Sweetheart…I hate to break it to you but it seems every time I went out on a date over the years my date received the third degree from him and then I did if I didn't come home at a certain time. It didn't matter how much I argued with him he would just argue right back. He just won't give up."

"He gets it from you." Emily glared and sat on the end of the bed. Patrick ignored her glare and sat next to her. "So…how many men have you exactly went with over the years?"

Emily raised an amused eyebrow. "How many women have you dated?"

"Okay moving on."

She chuckled and patted his knee. "That's what I thought and we can talk about that after we talk with our son. All right?"

"Right." He said wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

Emily leaned her head against his shoulder and reveled in the feeling. "This morning would have been perfect if Ben hadn't come in when he did."

"He always could never leave us a moment's peace when he was young." Patrick smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her close.

Emily chuckled and leaned into his embrace, resting her hand on his knee. "Yes, but we are his parents and in some cultures that usually means he has to listen to us. I don't care how old he is."

It didn't happen though. Ben, Abigail, and Riley came back less than a minute later, ready to give them both a piece of his mind. Emily and Patrick sat side by side on the sofa in the hotel room and watched with amusement as Ben paced back and forth. Abigail and Riley just sat in the chairs, bored out of their minds as they put up with Ben being ridiculous.

"This…" Ben began. He finally stopped pacing and turned to face them both. "This cannot happen. You two don't get along. You fight all the time!"

Patrick couldn't help himself. "Well, that's the great thing about fighting son, the making up part."

Ben cringed as the rest of them held back their laughter. "Oh stop it!" Ben said angrily. They all did stop when they realized how serious he actually was. "This is going to end badly. The only reason you two got together was because of one night of tequila and that's probably the reason last night."

Emily frowned. "I can assure you Ben I was not drunk and even if I was this is none of your business."

"None of my business?" Ben asked in disbelief. "This is most definitely is my business. I had to put up with you two not talking to each other for 32 years and then all of a sudden everything is peachy? This is not how it works. If you two get divorced you stay divorced."

"Well…" Emily began. "Technically we are still divorced."

Ben glared at his mother. "You know that is not what I meant." Ben sighed and sat down on the coffee table. This was the type of thing he used to dream about when he was a kid, his parents getting back together, but as he grew older he realized how much he hoped they would just stay apart. They only got together once or twice out of the 32 years they didn't speak and those were disasters, nothing but fighting. He learned to wish they would just stay away from one another. "What is really going on here?" he finally asked, finally calm a little bit.

Emily and Patrick looked at each other and shrugged. "To be honest son…" Patrick began. "We don't even know." Ben scoffed. "I understand your confusion and we're a little confused too, all right. It is a shock to go without talking for 32 years to…this. Now I know your concerns but what is happening between your mother and I, is something we need to work out on our own. I know you might not like it but it really is none of your business and I think it's best if you let your mother and I talk alone for a while. Discuss a few things."

Ben didn't like the idea but he guessed his parents would talk with him when they were ready. Meanwhile he would have to just deal with this and make up his own explanations in his mind that would drive him nuts. "Fine." He shot up off the coffee table and towards the door, Abigail and Riley following him immediately.

"Finally." Emily said relaxing against the couch. "Are we sure he is forty three years old? Because just now I could have sworn he was the ten year old when we told him we were getting divorced."

Patrick chuckled and wrapped an arm around Emily. "Well, he isn't used to it yet. I understand him a little. I am used to you yelling at me the moment you see me too."

Emily smiled and shifted to sit in Patrick's lap, taking him by complete surprise. "Well don't worry, no more yelling…" She couldn't help but smirk as she added, "for now."

Patrick smiled and shook his head. "We need to get going."

"For what?" she asked with a frown.

An eyebrow was raised that caused a shiver through Emily. She definitely didn't want to leave now. "We found Cibola…meetings today…remember?"

Emily shrugged and wrapped her arms around his neck smiling. "The other three can handle it." She then pressed her lips to his.

Patrick loved this side of her but they really couldn't start anything. As much as it pained him to do it he had to stop the kiss. "We have to go."

Emily shook her head and shifted again so her legs were on either side of him now. "They don't need us. Ben can fill them in."

She began to kiss right behind his ear and worked her way along his chin and cheeks while unbuttoning his shirt. It was driving Patrick crazy and she could tell by his hands running all along her hips and behind. "What if they need a translation?"

Emily smiled and ran her warm hands inside his open shirt. "They can look it up on the internet."

Patrick laughed and removed her hands. "Em…come on."

"No." She moved her lips back to the spot she knew drove him crazy.

Patrick hissed through his teeth. "Em…we need…hmm…Em they need us…"

"No they don't." she mumbled, shifting herself on him more, causing friction between them.

"Em…"

Emily stopped. "Patrick…"

"Hmmm?"

"Just shut up." The smoldering and intense look in her eyes made him do just that and he brought her into a passionate kiss.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Sorry it took me a while. I got a little writer's block. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 4**

It took nearly two months for the news about Cibola to finally die down. Ben moved back in with Abigail, Riley went to his home but this time he actually had a woman to invite over, Jacqueline, and Emily had gone full force back to work. She didn't move in with Patrick. Neither one of them suggested it or even really talked about what their future held so they just didn't talk, which wasn't good but it seemed to work for them.

It was only about thirty minutes between his home in Washington and her town house in College Park. They spent part of the week at her home and the other part at his. They actually settled into a nice routine when they were together, of course they were always together. They had only separated for a couple of days because Emily had meetings during a time Patrick was busy doing some speeches with Ben and he wasn't able to stay with her and she wasn't able to stay with him but when they were together they always cuddled together on the couch while Patrick watched television and Emily graded papers.

Patrick sometimes had to pry the papers out of Emily's hands to get her to go to bed at a decent hour but other times he would find himself falling asleep next to her as she still continued to grade. He would then wake up a couple of hours later to find Emily finally asleep, papers still on her lap and her glasses dangling from her hand. No matter how many times he's seen her asleep he would still watch her just for a second, enjoying the moment of taking in all her beauty, then he would set everything aside and carry her to bed; she would never wake up. The routine they developed was just going so well.

They loved every minute of spending time together; having dinner together, sometimes with Ben and Abigail, even Riley would join them sometimes. The best time though for them was early morning when they both were awake right before breakfast and still in bed. They would just hold each other for just a few minutes and allow the pleasure of the few intimate minutes they had left to take over them before their day started.

But despite being together most of the time Patrick felt they were still living separate lives. He didn't want to pressure her but he was getting up in years, he didn't want to waste any time, at the very least it couldn't hurt to just discuss the possibility of them moving in together. If he could he wanted to get her to agree to marry him. At least he was going to try. Patrick planned on making her a lovely dinner and then hopefully discuss their future that they have been avoiding.

Meanwhile Emily had been oblivious to the slight unhappiness that Patrick was feeling in their relationship. She felt things were going great, no need to rush things. Last time they rushed things it all ended in disaster. Why did they need to rock the boat? Emily had no idea Patrick was about to do just that.

"All right…" Emily said to about 150 students in a huge auditorium like classroom. "Next we are going to try and finish up our discussion from yesterday of Pre-Columbian…" Emily only stopped talking because she heard the door at the top of the stairs to her left creak open and she hated late comers and her students knew that. If you came late you ran the risk of being humiliated in front of everyone. She sighed. "You know if you can't…" She began to say, ready to make a student cry, she hadn't done that in a while but she stopped when she saw Patrick peaking inside the room.

He really didn't mean to interrupt. He thought her class would be done by now. He held up a hand and was backing out when she smiled and stopped him.

"Um, no, it's all right. Class let's stop here and we can pick this up the next time we meet. I would really hate to stop in the middle of it, so you're dismissed." No one moved. They weren't sure if Emily was serious. She never, ever, let them out early. She lectured to the last second and she certainly didn't stop just because a strange man entered the room. Seriously, the president of the school wanted to speak with her during the middle of the lecture and she refused. They just kept looking at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Emily rolled her eyes. "I wasn't joking but if you want to stay and discuss…" She smirked when they started gathering their things and bolted.

Patrick smiled and made his way through the crowd of people trying to make it out of the room before Emily changed her mind. "I'm sorry…" Patrick said as he reached her and kissed her gently on the cheek. "I thought your class would have been over by now."

Emily waved it off and kept smiling, leaning back into her podium. "It's okay. I don't mind letting them go early." Patrick raised a skeptical eyebrow at her and she caught this. "I don't." she said defending herself. "You've mellowed me a bit. Plus…" She stepped forward closer to him, so close she had herself pressed up against him. "If I get to spend time with you I would be happy to force them out."

Patrick chuckled and turned to the students who were still working their way out. "I don't think you have to force them."

Emily chuckled and cupped his cheek before moving to the papers she had. "I'll just gather my things and we can talk, which is I am assuming you want to do, in my office."

"Last time I was in your office you yelled at me."

"If it makes you feel any better I felt extremely guilty for that."

Patrick stepped closer to her. "Really?"

She nodded and placed her arms around his neck. "Yes, we hadn't seen each other in 32 years and I immediately get back into old habits."

"I can't really blame you." He placed a soft hand on her hip, circling around to the small of her back and pressing her closer. "I kind of started it."

"I promise no more yelling…at least not in the office." She gave him a smirk and was about to kiss him when she heard a clearing of a throat. Emily immediately pulled away from Patrick and turned to see one of her students standing there smiling. "Yes?"

"Hello…I'm Brian Moore…I attend your class but I doubt with over 100 students you would know who I was."

Emily was never one for patience. "Is there something you needed Mr. Moore?"

Brian cleared his throat again and gave her his best smile. "I was wondering if it was at all possible if I could ask when the next paper is due."

"You know better then to ask. I give out a syllabus at the beginning of every semester. There should be no reason to ask."

Brian knew he had been pushing his luck. Ms. Appleton was just extremely strict but he thought she wouldn't turn him down in front of another person, who she seemed quite cozy with. "I can't seem to find it and…"

"Well then I suggest you look for it or ask a classmate. I am not here to hold your hand and remind you of when papers are due or when exams are given. My job is to teach you not babysit."

Brian seemed at a lost for words. "Okay…ma'am…" His eyes widened when she glared at him. She hated being called ma'am. "I mean Ms. Appleton, um…bye."

Patrick watched as the poor kid walked away. "Don't you think you were a little hard on him?" he whispered.

Emily looked toward the kid climbing the stairs and shook her head. "No. They should know the dates."

"Emily he only asked one small question. No wonder they call you…"

"Ah…you can't call me that." Emily sighed and rolled her eyes as Patrick gave her the look. She turned to Brian who was just about to walk out the door. "Next week Mr. Moore."

Brian stopped and turned. "Huh?"

"Next week. The paper is due next week. Don't forget and don't ever ask me again."

He nodded and smiled. "Thank you Ms. Appleton." He left as quickly as possible.

Emily turned back to Patrick who had a smile on his face. "Happy now?"

"Ecstatic and now you made a student extremely happy. Maybe your reputation as the British Bitch will go away."

Her eyes widened in horror. "No, that can never happen."

Patrick frowned as they started walking up the stairs. "Why won't you want that?"

"I strike fear in my students. It keeps them on their toes and they turn in the work, usually, without complaints. Some students still don't understand I don't give extra credit or extend due dates."

Patrick laughed and shook his head. "You need to relax Emily."

"No I don't. I need to focus on these papers I have tonight."

"No you're not." He said before opening the door to the hallway. They both walked out. "You are going to come home tonight with me. You are going to leave the papers. You are going to relax and I am going to make you dinner."

Emily stopped right in the middle of the hallway. "You are going to make me dinner?" she asked skeptically. The last time Patrick cooked for her he burnt everything.

"Yes." He smiled and placed a hand on the small of her back to lead her down the hall. "I can cook."

Emily wasn't so sure about that. "All right." She said as they rounded the corner. "But if I smell anything burning we're ordering Chinese."

Patrick laughed but something made them both stop when they came up behind a group of students, one of them was Brian. "She actually told you?" One student asked Brian.

"Yeah, I think it had something to do with the guy that was with her. I remember seeing him in the paper a couple of months back with her. If I remember right they called them Mr. and Mrs. Gates."

"She isn't married, is she?" Some girl asked.

Brian shrugged. "I don't know but she certainly looked quite cozy with him in the classroom."

Some girl next to him rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous because we all know you like her."

Patrick was trying not to laugh and Emily was just raising her eyebrows. "I do not." Brian replied but Emily could see a slight redness on his neck appear.

"Oh stop it Brian, you're not the first to fall for Ms. Appleton. She is the woman that guys secretly adore. The beautiful woman with a demanding personality, I think it's a mommy thing." She said with a laugh. Brian rolled his eyes and the blush began to form on his cheeks too. "Oh don't worry Brian. I have to say if I thought I had any kind of chance I would go gay for her." Their jaw dropped in shock and Patrick was ready to roll on the floor laughing. "What?" The girl asked casually. "You guys are such prudes. It's not like it's going to happen anyway. Like you said, apparently she is married now."

"Yeah, at least we know what is going on with her and her mood lately. She's finally getting some." They all laughed.

Emily couldn't take this much more and took a step closer, clearing her throat. They all turned and their jaws dropped. Brian went completely pale. "Hello Mr. Moore. I trust you still remember the paper you just asked about?" He nodded. "Are you finished yet?"

"No ma'am…I mean yes…I mean no I just…"

"Well which is it yes or no?"

He took a deep breath before replying. "No Ms. Appleton."

"Then I suggest you get to it then." All Brian could do is nod. "I hope the rest of you are finished with yours." Out of fear they all simply nodded, even the two students who weren't in her class this semester. "Good, I will see you next time then." She nodded to Patrick and they both simply walked through the group and away. Patrick couldn't help laughing once they were out of the ears of the students. Emily rolled her eyes. "Oh stop it."

"I don't need to worry about you and Brian do I?"

Emily couldn't stop chuckling herself. "Of course not but you notice the fear…it works."

Patrick shook his head and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Let's just go home." Emily loved how he implied it as their home. It made her smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"I'll just be a minute." Emily said as she placed her lecture notes and student papers on her desk.

Patrick nodded and made himself comfortable on the couch. She sighed and began shuffling through the mountains of papers on her desk. She was mumbling under breath and seemed to be getting angry. "You okay?" Patrick questioned as he watched her fuss over everything on her desk.

"I can't find anything in this mess." She gestured toward her desk.

Patrick stood and walked over to her desk. "What are you looking for?"

Emily scratched the temple of her head. She could have sworn she left them here. She glanced up at Patrick when his questioned finally registered with her. "Just some important papers I need to take with me."

Patrick eyed her suspiciously wondering if they were papers that needed grading. If he had his way, and he was going to get his way, she wasn't going to let her bring those papers with her. "Can I help you look?" Emily nodded, still focusing on her finding them. "What do they look like?"

"Um, well, they have some green and pink post it notes on the top of them." Patrick couldn't help but be amused and Emily saw this. "What?"

"Pink post it notes?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "I still don't like the god-awful Pepto-Bismol colored notes. It was the only colored ones they had left when I bought them. I use them to separate first year graduate students with the rest and I can't change it now so quit laughing at me." She said seeing his smirk.

"I wasn't laughing at you." He said trying to get of his smile but failing.

"Humph.", was all Emily said in response as she went on looking for them.

Patrick chuckled very softly and went on to help her, hoping he would find them before she did in order to keep her from working at least for tonight and luck seemed to be on his side that evening because he found the papers hidden under a stack of folders. "Found them." He announced without hesitation. He didn't need to hide them because he wasn't going to have her search the whole night for papers he wasn't going to allow her to take anyway.

Emily smiled and reached for it. "Thank you sweetheart." But Patrick pulled them out of her reach before she could grab them. She laughed thinking he was messing around. "Come on, give me the papers." She reached for them again but Patrick pulled them away from her. "What? You want a kiss for them?" She smiled, leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips and pulled away a second later. "There…" She said with a smile. "Now can I have them?"

Patrick shook his head. "Nope, sorry, no work for you tonight."

Emily's smile fell. "Excuse me?"

"I've decided tonight that for once you are not bringing any papers home with you."

Emily placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not doing any work?" He nodded. "I don't think so. Give me the papers…now." She said it in a demanding voice, hoping to scare him but it didn't seem to faze him at all. Maybe she was being too nice to him lately. She tried for the honest and desperate approach. "Patrick come on, I really need to get this work done tonight so I can have it ready for them at a certain time, if I don't the students will be disappointed if I'm not finished at my usual time." She even gave a little pout for extra support.

Patrick unfortunately did not fall for it. In fact, he laughed. "Since when did you care about pleasing the students?"

"I care about my students!" she defended. Patrick gave her a look that made her add, "to a certain extent but I really do need to do this work. I'll feel behind. I already missed a few days two months ago with the Cibola business."

"It won't hurt you to miss one day."

Emily glared at him. She really hated it when he actually stood up to her. She decided one more approach and if this didn't work, nothing would. She stepped closer to him and smiled. She planted her lips on his and felt him respond immediately to the passionate kiss. She opened her eyes and moved her hand to his arm, slowly gliding it downward, caressing it and distracting him with her tongue as she reached for the papers in his hand.

It didn't work. Patrick pulled away and held the papers up so she couldn't reach. "Nice try."

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, wanting very much to, not hurt him, but do something that would make him regret what he is doing now. "It's just paper grading."

"Yes but every time you bring something home with you, you fall asleep at such a late hour. I want you to spend some time with me, just for one night let go of work, and have some alone time. Plus a good night's rest would do you well. I've seen you working so much to catch up on what you believe you fallen behind on and it's going to make you sick if you keep on the way you do with four hours of sleep or so every night, barely eating anything. You need a break. I'm sorry but the health of you comes before work."

Emily felt kind of bad now. Okay so maybe she doesn't get much sleep when she is immersed in her work and she only eats something that doesn't need to be cooked or prepared but her work had been important. She had always done this before and it never bothered him, of course they had only been together officially for the last two months after being separated for 32 years but it was hard to change your routine so soon after doing it for so many years. She had let it slide while she was in Cibola a little bit and she had put Patrick ahead of her classes sometimes, today being an example, but again she can't change so quickly. She wanted to change for sure, in order to make their relationship work but slowly.

She glanced at Patrick who was still holding the papers out of her reach and she sighed. There was no way he was going to let her, even if she did fight. It might be a good idea anyway to have one night off, especially if it meant spending it with Patrick. "All right." She said giving up. "Just for tonight I will not bring work home with me but this does mean I will be getting up a little bit earlier than usual tomorrow to do a little work before class."

Patrick smiled and nodded. "All right let's go." He walked over to her cabinet where she kept important books and ancient papers locked away and reached up to put the papers he had in his hand on the very top.

"What in the world are you doing?" Emily questioned.

He smiled as he turned to her. "I don't trust you."

Emily rolled her eyes and walked toward the door. "Oh brother."

* * *

Emily cringed as she heard a loud yelp from the kitchen and a banging of pots and pans. She looked up from the book she had been reading and stretched her neck to try and see inside the kitchen. "Are you all right?"

Patrick poked his head around the corner and smiled. "I'm fine. Just go on reading, ignore me." Emily raised an eyebrow when he left. She listened for a moment and smiled when she didn't hear anymore noise. She went back to her book.

It was fifteen minutes later when she heard another yelp and more crashing. "Do you need any help sweetheart?" she questioned setting her book aside.

"Nope…" he yelled from the kitchen. "I'm fine. Everything is fine."

She heard more yelling and before she got up and took a step forward. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" he said quickly. "Absolutely, do not come in here."

Emily didn't listen to him because now she was hearing some swearing and a loud crash onto the floor. She stepped quietly up to the kitchen entryway and saw Patrick nursing his burnt finger under cold water. She glanced down and noticed water all over the floor where she assumed came from the pot on the floor along with pasta sauce on the stove, ready to bubble over the top of another pot.

"You don't need any help huh?" she asked stepping inside, carefully avoiding the water.

Patrick groaned. "I told you I could handle it. I'm doing fine."

Emily chuckled and grabbed some ice out of the freezer. "No offense sweetheart but you burnt your finger, there's water everywhere, the pasta sauce is going to burn, and well…at the rate your are going at we will be eating dinner for breakfast, now just come over here." She said near the table. She wrapped some ice in a towel and pushed Patrick into a chair. "Keep that on it. I'm going to get a mop." She quickly turned the pasta sauce down before she went to the closet off sight of the kitchen and grabbed a mop.

Thirty minutes later the floor was clean and Emily had shown Patrick how to make spaghetti without burning himself. They finally got to sit down at the lovely dining room table Patrick set up with a beautiful table cloth and candles. "This is really nice." Emily commented as she twirled her food on her fork. "I can't remember the last time I actually sat down and had a good meal without it being heated in the microwave until it turned gray.

Patrick cringed. "You're a good cook. Why would you do that?"

She shrugged as she looked down to her food. "Never really had the time for anything else, I don't know if I was just distracting myself from the fact that I was eating alone or what. I just knew I felt the need to keep busy." Patrick gave her just a smile and grasped her hand from across the table. There was no need to feel alone anymore. They had each other now. "How did you cook for the past 32 years without killing yourself?" Emily asked in amusement.

He laughed. "I didn't, take-out became my cook for a long time."

Emily frowned. "That's not a well balanced diet."

"Neither is microwaving things." Emily scoffed and took a sip of wine. "You know I do have a motive for tonight." Emily glanced at him with curious looks. "I wanted to cook dinner for you, obviously that didn't go as planned, and then there were some things I wanted to discuss with you…"

"Discuss?"

Patrick nodded and suddenly seemed to get very nervous. Emily watched as sweat seemed to form on his head and he started tugging lightly at his collar. "Well, I just…" He sighed and stopped for a moment.

Emily guessed to calm himself down. She hoped he would soon because he was making her nervous. What did he want to discuss? Nothing good ever came out of discussing something, at least not with them. Maybe he realized he didn't want to be with her? Oh dear, what if it was someone else? What if he just couldn't deal with her? Maybe he figured out that this was a mistake. Emily clutched her glass tightly; very afraid of what was to happen next. It wasn't what she expected.

"Will you marry me?"


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 6**

Emily couldn't believe what she just heard. Did he really just propose? No, he wouldn't want to ruin what they had. It was too soon. They weren't ready. They had just gotten back together two months before after a thirty two year separation. Could he honestly say he was ready for this big a jump so soon? Did he even think of what changes it would make? What about their son? Sure he was forty three and living with his fiancée Abigail now but he didn't take it too well when he found out his parents were back together again. How was he going to take this? Things were going great. They were both happy and content with how things were, or at least she thought they both were. They had a nice routine going and they both said I love you. Why would he want to mess it up with a proposal so soon in their newly found relationship?

"What?" she finally said after a few moments of shocking silence.

"Will you marry me?" Patrick repeated with a little shakiness in his tone. He was nervous when he first asked but now when she didn't say yes right away it was down right nerve racking to ask a second time.

"I heard you the first time but…" Emily wasn't exactly sure what to say next. She just said exactly what she was thinking. "Have you even thought about this?" Patrick nodded and pulled out a black velvet box form his pocket and placed it in front of her. "Oh dear, you have thought about this."

He smiled and opened the box to reveal a beautiful antique engagement ring. It had a large diamond in the middle with little diamond clusters on the side and from the looks of it, it is probably from the 1920s or 30s. It was gorgeous. "I thought about…" Patrick began as he watched her stare at the ring, "just giving you your old engagement ring, the one you threw at my head along with your wedding ring." He laughed but Emily didn't. She still was unsure of how to go about this. "But I thought why give you a ring during that point of our lives. I thought if we are truly starting over, we should start over with a new ring for you." He gave a small smile to her before taking a longing glance at the ring. "It sort of reminded me of you, classy and extremely breathtaking. I really hope you like it. I thought you would want this more than your old one and well…"

"I don't think this is a good idea." Emily blurted out, interrupting him.

Patrick frowned. "Well if you would rather wear your old engagement ring that's fine. But I'm not taking this back. It's a gift and I still want you to have it." He handed it over with a smile but Emily didn't take it.

She just shook her head and then placed it in her hands. "That's not what I meant." She said in a voice that told Patrick she was on the verge of tears. "What made you want to propose?" she asked him, skillfully avoiding the moment when she would have to give him an answer.

He laughed. "What made me want to make you my wife again?" She nodded and he chuckled more before answering, "Well for one I love you and I want us to spend what life we got left together." Patrick then averted his eyes from her and lowered his voice a little when he said his next words, "I want us to have a life together rather than separate ones."

That got Emily to look up. She sat straight up and narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean we're living separate lives? We're together all the time!" she exclaimed.

Patrick shook his head, finally ready to voice his concerns about their relationship. "Physically…sure, we're both there but I still feel there is a part of you that is still keeping yourself at a distance. I don't know why but I feel it Emmy. I love you and I want to share my life with you again, not keep secrets or fears or anything from each other."

Now Emily was getting a little angry. "I tell you everything. I never keep anything from you. I mean…I don't…" She stood up and started pacing, getting extremely frustrated. "This is ridiculous." She stopped and stood in front of him. "I don't understand what you mean."

Patrick sighed and stood, placing his hands on her shoulders but she shook them off. "Look, when we said we would give each other another chance I thought that meant we would be in this for the long run…"

"I am!"

"Please, let me talk." Emily huffed and crossed her arms. "Now, we both said we would be in this for the long run but I feel like I'm running beside the car." Emily stared at him like he was crazy. "I'm serious Em. I feel like I'm running beside the car and you're the driver and you're not letting me in. You're pulling forward just a bit and then when I finally think I'm catching up enough to open the door to join you, you leave me; you pull forward a little more. You're shutting me out. I can feel it. I don't like it. I love you and we both said we would never treat each other the way we did we back then and I feel we might be heading in that direction if we don't move forward."

Emily was finally starting to get where he was going. "Wait, you mean we get married or…it's over? That's it?"

"I mean, you stop me shutting me out and let go for once."

"That's what I just said. You want me to marry you or we're done? Right?"

Patrick sighed. He hated to do this but, "Sort of…I mean, yes. I'm sorry Em but I don't want to wait. We both are getting older and as much as I love you I don't want to be running beside the car for what life I got left. I'm not even asking to be the driver. You can drive all you want." He said with a small smile and chuckle. "I just want you stop maybe enough to let me in, please?"

Emily could see the pleading in his eyes. What was she going to do? Was she ready to get married? She wasn't ready. She couldn't do it and it broke her heart to say this but, "I'm sorry Patrick but…" Tears were now starting to fall. "I never keep things from you. I love you too but I'm not ready for marriage again yet. I'm sorry but…" She paused for a moment to take a breath. "You're not ready either. I know it. I just…" She felt her breath hitch and she knew she was going to burst into a sob and she didn't need Patrick seeing her like that. "I need to get out of here." And with those final words she rushed out of the kitchen and out the front door.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: This is the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed this story! **_

**Chapter 7**

Patrick stood in the kitchen for the longest time just holding the ring he had hoped to place on Emily's finger but never able to. He knew there might be some resistance with her saying yes. He even thought about it at one point whether or not this was a good idea tonight. He thought for a second right before the words came out of his mouth that he was going to just give her the ring as a gift but then he just blurted it out. He was ready to get married again and he didn't want to wait.

He sighed as he sat down. He was afraid this would happen, her saying no. Sure, now they probably weren't together anymore but he had to take that chance. He wanted to be her husband again. But she did say no. What was he going to do now? He had to talk to her. He wasn't going to just let her walk out. He couldn't, not again, no way.

Patrick stood and walked as fast as he could towards the door. He pulled opened the door and was ready to walk out only to be stopped when he came faced to face with four people. Ben, Abigail, Riley, and Jacqueline stood at his front door.

"Hey Dad." Ben said with a smile.

Patrick tried to give a smile to his son but it came out more sort of like a wince. How could he explain what was happening to them now? His son didn't like it when they got together he certainly wasn't going to like this. This was exactly what Ben was worried about. Ben didn't want this ending badly and it did, well kind of, almost. He didn't know what was happening. He just knew he needed to talk to Emily.

"Now isn't the best time." He said politely.

Ben frowned. "Why? What happened? Did you and Mom have a fight?"

Patrick stepped aside and allowed them to enter the house. "Sort of…" he said closing the door. He turned to his family and sighed. He really needed to talk with Emily. "We just had a disagreement and I think its best if you guys just head on out. We can all have dinner tomorrow, okay?" He smile came out a little weak and Ben immediately noticed this.

He sighed. "All right…where's Mom?" Ben turned and started looking in the living room and kitchen.

"Ben…" Patrick said trying to stop him. They just needed to go. They would only make it worse.

"Is she upstairs?" Ben said pointing to the stairs. He leaned over the railing and looked up. "Mom! Come on down here, please." He shouted.

"Ben, your mother is not upstairs."

Ben stopped and turned to his Dad confused. "Then where is she? Is she at home? Did she have an important meeting tomorrow?"

"She left." Patrick simply said.

Ben stared at his father like he was crazy. "What do you mean she left? You mean she left as in she had to make a run at the store for milk or…"

"She left me." Patrick watched as his son's eyes widened and he could see the anger and sadness in his son's eyes already. "Now Ben…relax…"

Oh that did it. "Relax?" Ben said anger very much evident in his voice. "You want me to relax?" His laughter almost reached the point of insanity. "You really expect me to relax after what you just told me? I said this would happen! I said that this had disaster written all over it!"

"Well…" Riley interrupted. "You didn't exactly say it had disaster written all over it. Your exact words were, 'this cannot happen. You two fight all the time. It will end badly.' See, no where did you say…" Riley stopped when he saw the deadly glare he was getting from Ben. "Shutting up now."

Ben turned back to his father. "I can't believe this. I told you two that this wouldn't end well. I told you that it was a bad idea. You always fight. You never get along. You couldn't make it work 32 years ago I don't know what in the hell made you two think it could work now! You should have listened to me!"

Now it was Patrick's turn to get angry. "Excuse me son but this was between your mother and I. Whether you liked it or not we were giving ourselves another chance. It was none of your business then and it still isn't!"

Ben sighed and gripped his hands into a fist. "What did you two fight about this time? Dinner? Socks? Or how about where to move the couch? I swear you two had the dumbest reasons to…"

"I asked her to marry me!" Patrick yelled.

The room filled with silence when as soon as the words left Patrick's mouth. They all stared at him, shocked and a little confused. He proposed. He proposed and he is here alone. That only meant one thing and suddenly Ben felt like a complete idiot.

"Oh…" Ben simply said after a few moments. "Dad…I'm sorry. Where did Mom go?"

Patrick shrugged and leaned against the wall behind him. "I have no idea. Probably home."

"Well, her car is outside." Abigail said from the sidelines.

That perked Patrick up. "What?"

"Yeah, it's still there."

That meant she hadn't of really left. They had taken separate cars when they came here but he just assumed she took it when she left. Maybe he should go find her and talked to her. She couldn't have gone far on foot. "You didn't happen to see her when you drove up the street did you?" They all shook their heads. Patrick ran his hand through his hair. He needed to talk to her. He needed to do something. He couldn't just let her go. "I need to talk with her." He started towards the door but was stopped by Abigail.

"Patrick…maybe you talking to her now isn't the best time." She pulled him away from the door and slightly steered him towards his son and Riley. "Maybe Jacqueline and I should find her and talk with her, okay?" Patrick, not wanting to give him but really having no choice because she probably wouldn't want to talk with him anyway, nodded. "Come on." Abigail motioned to Jacqueline to follow her.

Once they left, Patrick turned to Ben and Riley who gave him a small reassuring smile. "They will bring her back Dad, don't worry. In the mean time let's us have a drink and you can tell us how this all happened." Patrick didn't argue as his son led him toward the kitchen.

Emily didn't feel like taking her car. She knew to calm herself down was to take a nice long walk. Luckily Patrick lived in a good neighborhood for her to do just that. It was a little dark out. She didn't want to leave but she had to get out of there. She felt so overwhelmed by this sudden proposal…no hints…they hadn't been really dating that long. It just didn't feel like maybe the best time.

She sighed as she sat down on a bench in a park a few blocks away, or maybe Patrick was right. Maybe she was pushing their relationship to the side or keeping him out of the car as he lovingly put it. So what if she did keep some feelings to herself. They didn't need to be brought up. It would only bring up things from the past and she wanted things from the past to just stay there. It would only make things worse between her and Patrick, not that they couldn't really get any worse now.

He said he didn't want to be with her if she didn't marry him. Maybe she could talk to him. Tell him that if waited a little while they could eventually get married but not now…she wasn't ready, it was too soon.

"Emily?" she heard a voice said in front of her.

Emily looked up to see Jacqueline and Abigail exiting a car. She didn't really need them to see her now. She had been crying and her face was all puffy. It wasn't a good scene. She tried wiping away the tears that still stained her face but she was sure they would know what she had been doing out here in the chilly evening.

"Are you okay?" Abigail asked, taking a seat next to her. "Do you want to talk about it?" Emily shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it now. It wasn't a good time but Abigail surprised her. "Well that's too bad because I find talking about it helps. Ben and I didn't talk when we split for a bit and a lot of good it did. We had to face near death to actually find each other again. Do you want that to happen with you and Patrick…again?"

Emily sighed. "I just…he proposed."

"We know." Abigail said with a soft smile. "I suppose you didn't yes right away."

Emily laughed and shook her head. "No I didn't. I couldn't believe he had proposed. I just…had to wrap my head around it first and once I was able to speak I just…said really the first things that came to my mind."

"You never want to do that when a guy proposes. I did that and it cost me months of heart break."

Emily looked at her future daughter-in-law with curiosity. "What are you talking about? You told me when Ben proposed that you said yes immediately."

"Well…that was the second time he proposed actually." Emily's eyes shot up and Abby nodded. "Yeah, he proposed around the time we broke up and he moved out. In fact the reason he moved out. He wanted a new step and…" Abigail sighed as she stared at the diamond ring on her left hand. "I was just afraid. I was afraid of things changing. What if it didn't work out? I had cold feet even before the wedding." She said with a chuckle. "I regretted not saying yes because then maybe we could be married right now already. Why are you so afraid of Patrick? You can tell me."

Emily shook her head in denial. "I'm not afraid to say yes. I just know we are not ready."

"Not ready?"

"Yeah, we're not ready." She repeated. "I just feel we need to take some time to get to know each other a little again."

Abigail had to laugh. "I am sorry for laughing Emily but I have never met two people who knew more about each other. You two…you are so in tune with each other that you don't even realize it." Emily gave her a questioning look. "For example when we're out…you two automatically reach for each other without missing a beat. You both finish each other sentences, stories, and you both know what each other's likes and dislikes and even the flaws, despite all of both your flaws you still love each other. I mean, after 32 years of separation you get back together because you care for each other, doesn't that say something?"

Emily shrugged. "It does but I want the proposal to be at the right time and this just…"

"Emily…" Abigail said with a warning tone. "Tell me the truth."

She could feel the tears coming on again and this time she let them fall instead of holding them back. "I already failed at it once Abigail." She sniffed and Jacqueline handed her a tissue. She gave a small thanks as she dabbed her eyes. "I don't know if I can handle hurting like that again. When I left 32 years ago, it broke my heart to do it. I almost came back the next day but I knew if I wanted Patrick to start working on this marriage besides just me I was going to need to stay strong. I actually thought he would come after me but he didn't. He let me go and I don't know if I can handle that again. I mean, just tonight he let me walk out. What does that say?"

"I think it says…" Abigail started. "That you need to let go of the past, you two are willing to give one another a chance and I have seen Patrick working on your relationship. He doesn't want to lose you again and just tonight he wanted to come after you but he didn't because we wanted to see you. We thought that would be better."

Emily looked up. "He was going to come after me?"

Abby nodded with a smile. "Yes, he wanted to talk to you and I think you should talk to him. You should stop worrying because yes, there are no guarantees this second marriage will work out but there are no guarantees in life. You're going to have to work on this marriage but if you do that then you should have nothing to worry about." Emily was stunned in silence and was unsure of what to say or do next. Luckily someone knew exactly what to do.

"Emily…" Jacqueline said placing a gentle hand on her arm. "I know you've only known me for two short months but when I see you with Patrick I feel the love between the two of you. I know it sounds kind of corny but it's the truth. You two have more love for each other than most couples I have seen and I imagine being in love like that is just an amazing feeling. Do you honestly want to lose that feeling?" Emily shook her head. "Well, then I suggest we get in the car and we go back to the house because I am sure there is a lot of talking needed to be done there." Emily didn't say anything. She just allowed Abigail and Jacqueline to lead her to the car.

Once back at Patrick's house Emily walked through the door with caution. She wasn't sure what she would be greeted with when she opened it but she was surprised to find no one behind it. Abigail and Jacqueline followed shortly behind her and they made their way into the kitchen. There they found Ben, Riley, and Patrick sitting around the table, all of them nursing a drink of brandy.

Patrick looked up when he heard foot steps and his heart jumped in his throat when he saw Emily standing there. He immediately stood up, not sure what else to do. "Em…" He began to say but fell short. He wasn't sure what to say. Maybe she should do all the talking.

"Come on guys." Abigail motioned for Riley and Ben to follow them. "Let's give them some privacy." Ben and Riley obeyed Abby and followed the girls out to the living room.

Emily and Patrick stood in the kitchen by themselves in silence for a few moments, unsure of what to say or where to begin. Emily wanted to say a whole lot but it was going to be hard for her. "I just…" "I…" They both chuckled as they tried to speak at the same time. "Ladies first." Patrick said with a smile.

Emily gave him that sweet, sweet smile and stepped forward. "You were right." She took a breath before looking up into his eyes. "I had been shutting you out. I just didn't want to get hurt again."

"I would never hurt you again Em."

She nodded in agreement. "I know. I know. I just…I'm not good with my feelings. You know that." She took another deep breath. This was extremely hard for her. "I've never been very good at expressing them. I was so afraid of what could happen in the future between us. I mean…32 years ago I left and you didn't come after me and I wanted you to. I wanted you to come after me. I wanted to stay with you but I wanted you to want me to come home. I wanted you to stop playing silly treasure games…of course now I realize their not silly but…it just seemed you wanted the treasure more than you wanted me and I didn't want that to happen again. I didn't want to feel that once again."

Patrick took a step forward and took her hands into his. He was grateful when she didn't pull away. "I wanted to come after you. I wanted to come after you then and I wanted to come after you tonight but Ben and them…" She nodded, giving him the indication she knew. "If I had known you had wanted me to I would have. I should have anyway, even if you rejected me." He rubbed his thumbs across the top of her hands. "And that is why I took a chance on tonight. I want to marry you and I felt if I didn't ask then I would never know. I just had to know."

"Why did you give me the ultimatum?"

"I know I shouldn't have done that. I wish I hadn't but I just felt that if we weren't going to get married…I just shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. I now realize that I love you and I will take you anyway I can get you. Whether you do marry me sometime down the road or we just date the rest of our lives with having a house here and a house in College Park because I love you too much to lose you again."

Emily didn't say anything for a few seconds, which worried Patrick a bit but he was completely surprised by her next statement. "Ask me again."

"Huh?" He asked dumbfounded.

Emily wiped a few tears that had escaped from her eyes while they had talked and gave him a smile. "Ask me again, please?"

Patrick grinned and took her left and kissed the top of it very gently. "Emily Margaret Appleton…" She almost cringed at her middle name. "Will you do me the greatest pleasure and become my wife…once again?"

Emily took a deep breath before smile and nodded. "Yes, Patrick Henry Gates…I would love to." Patrick grinned and brought her into a passionate reunion kiss. It was the best kiss she could ever hope for and she wasn't sure about their future but she knew she was willing to give this another go because she loved him so much.

They had stayed like that for a few seconds before they heard a soft sniffling in the doorway. Emily broke the kiss and turned, only to roll her eyes when she saw Riley standing there, dabbing his eyes with a tissue. "That…" He sniffed. "Was so beautiful!" He started bawling again and walked forward, bringing the older couple into a group hug.

"Riley!" They heard a voice as footsteps marched down the hall towards the kitchen. Ben and the girls appeared in the doorway. "We thought we told you to keep away from the door."

He sniffed a little more and a turned to Ben. "It was so beautiful." He repeated and he then went over to Jacqueline and placed his head on her shoulders. She just smiled and rolled her eyes as he patted his head.

Emily laughed and wiped her eyes again. "So…" Patrick said getting her attention. "Can you wear this now?" He held out the new ring he bought her and she nodded, holding out her left hand for him. He slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her once again.

"So this means you're getting married now? For sure?" Ben asked. Emily nodded and then he smiled as he brought his mother and father into a hug. "Congratulations."

"Thanks Ben."

"Awww…" Riley said, still sniffling away. "Family moment."

Ben just chuckled and smiled at his crazy family. "At least waited two months the second time around." He said as they sat down at the table to try to salvage some of the cold spaghetti.

"What?"

"Well, the first time you got married you only dated or barely knew each only for a month…at least this time you waited two months."

Patrick shrugged. "I'm just looking forward to the honeymoon. We never did have a real honeymoon."

Emily smiled. "That will be nice."

"Two long wonderful weeks in the Caribbean."

"Yeah…wait…what?" Emily turned to her fiancé with a curious glance. "Caribbean?"

He nodded with a smile. "Yes, I think a little sun will be nice."

Emily shook her head. "No way are you getting me under the sun and in a swimsuit. We are going skiing or Paris."

"Where in the world are we going to go skiing at? It's May!"

"We can wait until winter."

Patrick shook his head. "We are not waiting that long."

Emily shrugged and dug into her reheated spaghetti. "Fine…but we're not going to a sunny beach resort either."

"So you say. I think a little tan would do you good."

"I don't tan I burn!" She argued.

"Bring sunscreen…we're going to the Caribbean."

Emily glared. "No we are not…Paris and I don't want to hear another word about it."

Ben shook his head and took a drink of his brandy as he watched his parents fight. He loved his parents dearly and he was happy for them but sometimes they could be annoying and ridiculous. Of course then they wouldn't be his loving parents if they didn't fight over everything.

The End


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